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“Project Brandwoven™” to Integrate School’s Marketing Initiatives

For more than a year, the Wisconsin School of Business has been exploring ways to build the strength of the school’s brand to allow it to better compete with other top business schools.

The initial focus was on building a consistent brand for the Wisconsin MBA. “Brand Camp,” a series of seminars, was led by Deborah Mitchell, associate dean for Enterprise MBA Programs and Marketing Services. The seminars aimed to identify the value proposition and brand personality for the Wisconsin MBA as a whole and help individual career specializations identify how their brands can build upon those of the Wisconsin MBA, the business school and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

From those initial meetings, the seminars (“Brand 2.0” and “Brand 3.0”) broadened to include units from throughout the school for a discussion on development of a schoolwide brand. The school’s new Wisconsin School of Business logo and use of the “Be Out in Front™” tagline are two of the outcomes from those efforts.  Both were unveiled in October as part of the announcement of the school’s $85 million naming gift.

“The most successful and enduring organizations are Brandwoven™,” says Mitchell. “These types of organizations have a strong culture and sense of pride, with the brand providing a common thread for weaving community and communications, both internal and external.”

The next step in the process will be “Project Brandwoven.” Business school faculty and staff have been involved in a School-wide effort to define our brand and express it in our materials, communications strategy, and various aspects of our work.  Toward this end, teams representing various centers and units within the school have been working on projects that will help reinforce our brand to internal and external audiences.

A variety of team projects will be presented on Friday, May 9 from 1 to 4:30 p.m.  The entire Wisconsin School of Business community is invited to attend.  A panel of judges will select the very top presentations for special awards. (Submissions for the competition are due April 25.  Check-in meetings for those working on submissions will be held from 10 a.m. to noon on April 3 and April 17.) 

“Project Brandwoven grew out of our branding seminars,” said Mitchell. “Our hope is that the entire school will come listen to the Project Brandwoven presentations this May and that next year even more people will participate and make presentations.”

Handouts from the most recent branding seminars are posted at www.bus.wisc.edu/brandwoven.